The failure of the G7 meeting in Charlevoix, Quebec, marks a watershed for the 21st-century democracies. It is the moment when Donald Trump’s disruption of the international order moved from annoying threat to damaging reality. Mr Trump went to Quebec only under protest. He made no effort to compromise on his tariff war. He arrived late for meetings, chided the other leaders and left early. He snubbed the final communique. He tweeted insults to his Canadian hosts from his plane as he headed off. By the time his North Korean summit ends later this week, Mr Trump may be on chummier terms with another authoritarian dictator than with America’s democratic allies.

Certainly diverted any attention away from Bilderberg going on in Turin over the weekend. Paschal the Rascal and the bould Mick O'Leary donning the green jersey this time. Alongside some other punter: Brennan, Eamonn (IRL), Director General, Eurocontrol

_________________“....the power to dream, to rule, to wrestle the earth from fools”﻿

What did they think was going to happen as they pressed a claim for even larger surpluses via a statement of free trade? These same nations exist under the protection of US hegemony worldwide. Trump is obnoxious but he has also been very clear about what he expects in return for that protection: trade favours. That’s why Australia got off the hook. We run a US deficit.

Europe and Japan face existential strategic risks in Russia and China. Both are run by dictators intent on pressing their interests further into the democratic realm. Tearing it down if they can. This is a systemic risk to the underpinnings of liberty that makes free trade possible at all. Yet the G7 chose instead to provoke Trump. If anyone is surprised by the response then I can provide them the contact of an excellent psychiatrist.

There are many ways that the G7 could have come to the meeting with offerings to assuage the US anger represented in Donald Trump (basically its marginalised working classes) without violating the rules based order of geopolitics. Instead they chose to prod the beast in a vain attempt to appear to protect those rules. Virtue signalling in other words.

Forgotten is that Donald Trump is the symptom not the disease. The real malady is a US economy now so divided by class that it is throwing up Hail Mary politicians. Would the G7 have gotten a better hearing from Bernie Sanders? Nope. He too wants to repair the lot of American workers and would renegotiate trade to make it happen.

It’s all well and good for Davos Man to pat himself on the back for defending free trade but if in doing so he is undermining the very foundations of global liberalism then good luck with that.

Pah. The American economy and American businesses are built on the quick buck. As soon as they can outsource it, they're off. I look at the company I work for, American born and bred, created the industry, was once the world leader. Now spends all its time cutting expensive (experienced) American workers to outsource to Poland and India. Mostly to India at this stage.

Pah. The American economy and American businesses are built on the quick buck. As soon as they can outsource it, they're off. I look at the company I work for, American born and bred, created the industry, was once the world leader. Now spends all its time cutting expensive (experienced) American workers to outsource to Poland and India. Mostly to India at this stage.

This is capitalism working properly, improving living conditions for hundreds of millions of people around the world. China used to have 97% of it's population engaged in agriculture.

Using trade barriers in an attempt to turn back the clock to some kind of post-war golden age of US manufacturing isn't going to work, it's just going to make Americans poorer because the products they consume are going to get more expensive.

Might keep Tesla around for a while longer though.

_________________"It's easy to confuse what is with what ought to be, especially when what is has worked out in your favour"Tyrion Lannister

Pah. The American economy and American businesses are built on the quick buck. As soon as they can outsource it, they're off. I look at the company I work for, American born and bred, created the industry, was once the world leader. Now spends all its time cutting expensive (experienced) American workers to outsource to Poland and India. Mostly to India at this stage.

This is capitalism working properly, improving living conditions for hundreds of millions of people around the world. China used to have 97% of it's population engaged in agriculture.

Using trade barriers in an attempt to turn back the clock to some kind of post-war golden age of US manufacturing isn't going to work, it's just going to make Americans poorer because the products they consume are going to get more expensive.

Might keep Tesla around for a while longer though.

The middle class is getting poorer and the factory jobs/blue collar workers have disappeared so what is the incentive to maintain the status quo for these people? The fear that they might not be able to afford the latest smartphone ? What good is that if your only viable jobs are uber or deliveroo

Pah. The American economy and American businesses are built on the quick buck. As soon as they can outsource it, they're off. I look at the company I work for, American born and bred, created the industry, was once the world leader. Now spends all its time cutting expensive (experienced) American workers to outsource to Poland and India. Mostly to India at this stage.

This is capitalism working properly, improving living conditions for hundreds of millions of people around the world. China used to have 97% of it's population engaged in agriculture.

Using trade barriers in an attempt to turn back the clock to some kind of post-war golden age of US manufacturing isn't going to work, it's just going to make Americans poorer because the products they consume are going to get more expensive.

Might keep Tesla around for a while longer though.

The middle class is getting poorer and the factory jobs/blue collar workers have disappeared so what is the incentive to maintain the status quo for these people? The fear that they might not be able to afford the latest smartphone ? What good is that if your only viable jobs are uber or deliveroo

The aggregate benefit of hundreds of millions of Chinese becoming richer appears to be greater than the aggregate disbenefit of a few million, or even a few tens of millions of Americans becoming poorer, so in straightforward utilitarian terms, Eschatologist is correct. Still, it's unlikely many people take much personal satisfaction from being one of the eggs cracked into making the omelette.

_________________People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsBook I, Chapter X, Part II,